The authors of the article consider the institutional framework for regulating the use of rangelands in rural areas for the effective maintenance of livestock on household farms. On the basis of a detailed analysis, the issues of pastures allocated for livestock grazing to personal subsidiary farms have been identified. An assessment of the pasture lands of rural settlements and standards of the maximum permissible load of grazing of agricultural animals on the area of pasture turnover for the natural-agricultural zones of the republic and types of livestock are presented. The regions with a shortage of pasture lands and high concentration of the rural population, located in the foothill-desert-steppe, foothill-desert and mountain zones, incompliance of livestock kept in households and the level of pasture provision are identified. Areas with a low load of livestock on pasture land are identified. In the desert and semi-desert zones, there is an insufficient number of livestock for effective near-village pasture rotation. The ratio of the standards of need and provision in pasture fodder in different natural and agricultural zones by species composition of livestock is shown. The degree of use of pasture lands in various forms of economy of the republic is indicated, pastures assigned to peasant (private) farms are used with full load. Non-state agricultural enterprises within the boundaries of land use have a reserve potential of unused pastures with an area of 10.4 mln ha. A formula for determining the productivity and capacity of pasture lands for organizing cattle grazing is presented. Recommendations and schemes of pasture rotation are presented to preserve the productivity of natural forage lands of near-aul territories of zonal types of pastures, to radically improve the natural-economic zoning of Kazakhstan.